Curious to see how bassists who use dirt with blends are finding the quality of their blend circuits. Some seem to be great, like the Darkglass A/O and the Left Hand Wrath Deluxe, and some others are not so great with phase issues, volume dropoffs, fuzz-above-the-clean sound not meshing etc.

Please list your favorites and not so favorites.

I'm really liking the blend in my Left Hand Wrath Deluxe. Out of all the pedals I own (owned) it seems to be the only one besides the darkglass where the clean tone seems to be connected to my dirty tone and they sit really well together. As an example of one I'm not crazy about I don't really like the blend on the TAFM, but I know I'm in the minority there.

I wonder why there are so many differences in performance of these circuits? You'd think it would be a fairly straightforward thing to design a good clean blend, but since I'm no engineer, I don't know.

Last edited by BossMann73 on Fri Jul 07, 2017 4:52 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Olin wrote:Also love the blend on the TAFM, but I'm using it on a pretty low tuned guitar so maybe my comment is irrelevant? What don't you like about the TAFM specifically?

I can't quite put my finger on it actually. Just something about how the blended signal sounds a little too separated from the fuzz. I know it has a switch to change the phase, but I am running it in the "correct" position. It's almost like a hollowness to the sound if that makes any sense. The LEft Hand Wrath Deluxe is not only a pretty killer pedal (although I despise the builders business practices) and it has a really solid sounding blend. Much more of an integrated sound than the TAFM, IMO. I knew I was going to get some pushback from the TAFM folks, but opinions are what makes the world go round after all. Thanks for the replies.

Olin wrote:Also love the blend on the TAFM, but I'm using it on a pretty low tuned guitar so maybe my comment is irrelevant? What don't you like about the TAFM specifically?

I can't quite put my finger on it actually. Just something about how the blended signal sounds a little too separated from the fuzz. I know it has a switch to change the phase, but I am running it in the "correct" position. It's almost like a hollowness to the sound if that makes any sense. The LEft Hand Wrath Deluxe is not only a pretty killer pedal (although I despise the builders business practices) and it has a really solid sounding blend. Much more of an integrated sound than the TAFM, IMO. I knew I was going to get some pushback from the TAFM folks, but opinions are what makes the world go round after all. Thanks for the replies.

Maybe if the circuit puts out frequencies that are so different to what your clean sound has going (say a bass without mids or treble, and then the circuit pushes only treble) it feels like the circuit sits "on top" of your cleans.

If the circuit takes the frequencies your clean has and builds on that your clean blend might sound a bit more natural, like a progression.

Olin wrote:Also love the blend on the TAFM, but I'm using it on a pretty low tuned guitar so maybe my comment is irrelevant? What don't you like about the TAFM specifically?

I can't quite put my finger on it actually. Just something about how the blended signal sounds a little too separated from the fuzz. I know it has a switch to change the phase, but I am running it in the "correct" position. It's almost like a hollowness to the sound if that makes any sense. The LEft Hand Wrath Deluxe is not only a pretty killer pedal (although I despise the builders business practices) and it has a really solid sounding blend. Much more of an integrated sound than the TAFM, IMO. I knew I was going to get some pushback from the TAFM folks, but opinions are what makes the world go round after all. Thanks for the replies.

Maybe if the circuit puts out frequencies that are so different to what your clean sound has going (say a bass without mids or treble, and then the circuit pushes only treble) it feels like the circuit sits "on top" of your cleans.

If the circuit takes the frequencies your clean has and builds on that your clean blend might sound a bit more natural, like a progression.

only a thought.

Thanks Vidret. I couldn't quite understand what you were trying to say here, but I appreciate the reply. I am using a normal stock P bass. Some pedals seem to just have a better blend circuit than others.

BossMann73 wrote:Thanks Vidret. I couldn't quite understand what you were trying to say here, but I appreciate the reply. I am using a normal stock P bass. Some pedals seem to just have a better blend circuit than others.

He's saying that if the characteristics of the wet signal are too different from those of the clean signal, ie. your p-bass sounding hollow with the fuzz perhaps being mids heavy, this could cause the blend to sound unnaturally layered as opposed to sounding like one unified sound.

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BossMann73 wrote:Thanks Vidret. I couldn't quite understand what you were trying to say here, but I appreciate the reply. I am using a normal stock P bass. Some pedals seem to just have a better blend circuit than others.

He's saying that if the characteristics of the wet signal are too different from those of the clean signal, ie. your p-bass sounding hollow with the fuzz perhaps being mids heavy, this could cause the blend to sound unnaturally layered as opposed to sounding like one unified sound.

BossMann73 wrote:Thanks Vidret. I couldn't quite understand what you were trying to say here, but I appreciate the reply. I am using a normal stock P bass. Some pedals seem to just have a better blend circuit than others.

He's saying that if the characteristics of the wet signal are too different from those of the clean signal, ie. your p-bass sounding hollow with the fuzz perhaps being mids heavy, this could cause the blend to sound unnaturally layered as opposed to sounding like one unified sound.

I use a TAFM through a Sanamp and Ampeg rig with a Tele Bass. The gate is always on. I like the way it works with those. I imagine if didn't have an aggressive clean tone the TAFM would be pretty bland sounding as I don't like the way it sounds with guitar through a clean amp.

I generally don't care for clean blends on dirt pedals otherwise. Like you said it just seems too separate and not unified. I think clean blends are most useful in blending two dirty tones together.

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